The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1887-04-13
BASEBALL.
PROSPECTS FOR THE CHAMPION
SHIP SEASON OF 1887.

TfeOSfECIS tOR IdE CltAMt1ON-
SHIP SEASON OF 1887.
Over Three Million Dollars Spent in Pro-
fessional Baseball Development of the
National Field Sports From schooI-Boy
Pastlme- What the New Rules VIII Do.
The national field-game Of the Ameri-
can people is baseball, and it was evolved
from the old English school gSts@ of
Founders" But from mere boyish
pastime the game has developed into
manly sport, just suited to the tcmpera-
ment of our people, as baseball is full of
excitement, occupies but a couple of
hours for a contest, and it can be engaged
in with equal zest by youthful amateurs
and trained professionals. Baseball, as
national game, dates its existence from
! the period of the organization of the first
National Association of Baseball Players
in 1857 This association of amateur
players prepared an improved code of
playing rules for the games, which were
revised each year in accordance with the
improvements which the experience of
each season suggested. This institution
governed the fraternity up to 1870 by
which time the growing popularity of
baseball throughout the country had led
to the existence of two distinct classes of
players, the one being the original anna
teur class, and the other the trained pro-
fessionals engaged to regular service by
stock company clubs organized on a reg
ular business basis. In 1871 the old Ma
tional Association, as governing organi-
cation of the fraternity at large, ceased
to exist, the Amateur and Professional
Associations, organized in the spring of
1871, superseding. The former only ex-
listed couple of years, while the latter
provided the fraternity with its code of
playing rules up to 1876, when it was sue
eeeded by the National League of Pro-
fessional Clubs, the beneficial influence of
which has been felt for the past ten years,
one result of its organization being the
publication of the professional arena
from the gross abuses caused by pool
gambling, which prevailed in the early
period of the history of professional ball
playing.
The increased popularity of profess
sional baseball contests developed by the
National League led to the organization
of rival professional league, the Ameri-
can Association springing into existence
in 1889, since which time these two pro-
fessional organizations have virtually
given laws to the entire baseball frater- !
nifty of the country. These two base ball
associations, at first antagonistic in their
relations to each other, soon found that
their commercial interests were Identical |
and in 1885 they came together under the
working of a compact known as the Ma.
tional Agreement, the most protective |
and valuable cooperative code of laws
which ever governed any class of the |
business community.
The baseball fraternity in 1887 will |
for the first time in the history of the
game, play under one official code of
playing rules, viz: That authorized by the
conference committee of the National |
League and the American Association at |
the meeting held in Chicago November 10 I
and 16, 1886. On this exceptional occa-
sion not only were the members of the /
joint committee of each organization the /
ablest men that could have been selected /
for the purpose, but they were assisted
in their important work of revising the
playing rules by special advisory COM
mittee of leading club captains of the
two associations, who were invited to aid
the committee by such practical sugges-
tons as the experience of the past season
pointed out as necessary. Prior to this
meeting the work of amending the rules
each season had been done by the dele
gates to the annual meetings Of each or
ganization, and the result was not only
two different codes of rules, but crude
end ulisucSrdCroIy -c.I..ss..,i...s.. a.@ss
frequently had to be changed before the
close of the ensuing season. Under the
new order of things, however, the promise
is that the work of the conference COM
mittee will be found sufficiently practical
as to render changes unnecessary until
the next annual meeting. A primary /
object the committee had in view in
framing a new code of rules was to in
troduce such amendments as would lessen
the individual responsibility of the UNI
pire and transfer it chiefly to the code of
rules itself, one result being less cause for
disputing the umpire's decisions. To
accomplish this end, and also to equalize
the powers of the attack and defense by
needed amendments to the rules govern
ing the work of the pitchers and batsmen,
was the most important of the necessary
duty the committee had to attend to, and
they did their work most effectually, as
far as can be judged by the published re-
port of their proceedings.